| [Jan. 23rd, 2011|10:01 pm] |
"I'm surprised you listen to rumour," Asuma tossed back. "I thought you ghouls liked your facts straight."
Ibiki liked everything straight, if his flinchiness was any clue.
"Rumour is a fertile hunting ground for facts," Ibiki said serenely, with the faintest hint of a lethal smile edging his mouth.
"The last three rumours I listened to about me said I was a traitor, a deserter, or dead," Asuma pointed out. "I was very upset to find out I was dead. You think someone would've mentioned it sooner."
Ibiki's gaunt, scarred face looked slightly cheered by the idea. Or perhaps that was just the shadows from the trees. "That's an excellent rumour to have circulating," he said, sliding his lizard-mask back into place. "Gives you the element of surprise."
Asuma snorted a stream of smoke. "Ever run into an angle you couldn't play?"
"I try to avoid them," Ibiki said, shrugging; Asuma raised his eyebrows. "I take it playing angles is one of your hobbies?" the interrogator went on.
"Avoiding psych-reviews is one of my hobbies," Asuma returned. "Keep your sticky little fingers out of my brain, chuckles."
"It's not your brain I'm interested in. It's Hatake's and Sakamoto's. They probably took the straight path to the pass." Ibiki's head cocked, dark eyes almost invisible in the slits of his masks. "How fast can you run?"
"Fast enough," said Asuma, flicking his cigarette away. The trail ahead of them was sun-dappled and dusty, flanked by Konoha's massive trees. "But we'll never catch them in a straight run; not with their head start."
"I know. That's why we're going to Kuroihama, instead."
"We're taking a boat? Nice."
"When we get to Kuroihama, yes," Ibiki confirmed. There was just the faintest edge of scorn in his voice, as if he didn't think Asuma was taking this all that seriously. "I take it you didn't actually read your briefing notes?"
"I skimmed." He'd read enough to provoke a shouting match with the Hokage. That had to count for something. "The footnotes were interesting."
"There weren't any footnotes."
"Well, the pictures then."
"There weren't any--" Ibiki cut himself off, drew a long breath, and trebled his pace from a jog to a run.
Asuma tipped his head, watching the flex of the man's ass beneath white armour and black underpinnings. It was a good ass: flat and muscled and attached to some very nice legs, but it still did exactly nothing for Asuma. Which was a shame, really, because he suspected he could make the next several hours very uncomfortable for Ibiki if it did.
Well, there was still hope.
Grinning, Asuma sped up. |
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